Page 98 of Broken on the Mountain
Jamie's watching me with that look again, and Knox has gone quiet. Travis is stress-eating nachos like the world's about to end.
So I pick up the phone.
The messages are from today. All day, actually, starting at six this morning and continuing through this afternoon.
Piper:Fuck me. Mom's assistant sent another reminder about the fitting. Third one this week!
Piper:Do you think it's possible to be homesick for a place that isn't home?
Piper:I miss the mountains.
Piper:I miss you. Sorry we didn't hang out more while I was there. Call me at lunch?
Piper:Alright. Final fitting in an hour. Wish me luck!!!
Piper:I'm wearing them. Thanks for the push, I need that. (winking emoji)
The last message was sent two hours ago, and there's a photo attached.
I open it.
It's a mirror selfie she's taken from a boutique dressing room.
She's wearing a dress, and the dress is...fuck.
It's hot as hell. Simple, but still hugs every curve, shows just enough cleavage that my brain short-circuits. She looks like a million bucks. Sophisticated, polished, completely out of my league.
My chest does something complicated.
"She's been texting me all week," Brooke says quietly. "Chase, she doesn't want to go to that gala. She wants to be here."
"Then why isn't she?"
"Because she'sterrified." Brooke takes her phone back, snatching it from my grasp. "Her whole life, she's been the perfect daughter. Perfect grades, perfect career, perfect everything. And you—" She points at me, shoving her finger in my chest so hard it hurts. "You're the first thing she's ever chosen just because she wanted it. Not because it looked good. Or made her parents happy. Or fit some plan. Just because it madeherhappy."
Travis has finally stopped eating. Knox is staring at his beer like it holds the secrets of the universe. Jamie just winces with every jab his girlfriend stabs into my chest.
"She's choosing Chicago," I say, but it sounds weak even to me.
"She'sscaredof choosing you and losing everything else." Brooke leans forward, an inch away from my face. "There's a difference."
I think about Sunday morning. The way Piper's face shuttered when I laid down the ultimatum. The way she walked into the terminal without looking back.
I thought she was choosing her parents, her city life, the world she came from.
What if she was just choosing the only thing she knew how to choose?
"Shit…" I say quietly, shaking my head. "I fucked up."
"Yep," Travis agrees, shoving a mouthful of nachos back in his mouth now some of the tension has eased.
"Massively," Knox adds.
Jamie just looks at me. "What are you going to do about it?"
Before I can answer, Charlie appears at the table with a cocktail in his hand. It's pink and fruity with entirely too many garnishes.
"Couldn't help but overhear." He takes a long sip through a tiny umbrella straw. "And I think you're being a stubborn asshole."
